


Beach Walk

by AokiLapiz



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Romance, High School, Long Shot, M/M, Romance, Slow Romance, kuzusouda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-10-18 02:57:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10607862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AokiLapiz/pseuds/AokiLapiz
Summary: Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu's biggest goal for high school is to live the life suited for it. Yet, when he enters the academy that he's been dreading to gaze upon for weeks, he realizes that his classmates are everything but normal. With this, his three school years are bound to be out of ordinary, but how does he actually take it? Is it as bad as he had thought it would be, or does his fate have something else in store?And even though he's been trying his best to stick to the reasonable people that he's been introduced to in school, something drags him to one of the most peculiar, powerless, and possibly strangest boy that he's ever seen.





	1. Killer Ball

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Some things to know before reading this:
> 
> \- Non-despair AU  
> \- "High school"/College AU  
> \- SWEDISH School system - mostly to make sure I get everything right. Setting is still in Japan. This means: The students are 16-17 when starting, three years of "Gymnasium" School before they graduate.  
> \- Non-Ultimate AU. The characters still have their talents as interests.

When I was smaller, I always hated reading books. At least when it came to those books that were supposed to tell some made-up story that always had to end well. It’s unrealistic, isn’t it? Trying to teach us that every story has a nice ending, and that it will turn out alright. Even if your wishes are fucking delusional. I can’t stand some sugar-coated shit like that. 

...but then again, what would a book with a bad ending feel like? Would it feel abrupt, as if it wasn’t supposed to end? Would we be reading the book waiting for there to come a sequel, or an explanation that it turned out alright in the end? We are always thinking that it’s going to be okay, our minds filled to the brim with stupid delusions. The truth is, sometimes there isn’t a happy ending. “If it’s not okay, it’s not the end” - that’s what a lot of people told me in the past. What would they say if my ending was bad? Would I be proud to have proven them wrong, or self-pitying because my fate had darker plans for me in particular? 

When I was in first grade of elementary school, there was this kid. A nerdy looking dude, black hair and glasses even at that age. He would always get pushed around by other people. Of course, I didn’t care. Rather, I thought that it was probably his fault. If you get shit, you either suck it up or beat the shit out of them; no need to get all fucking sad about it. 

I don’t remember his name. I barely even remember what he looked like. But one day, he walked up to me, asking if I wanted to play cards with him. Of course, being the person I am even to this day, I told him to fuck right off. I don’t remember what I was doing at the time, neither do I remember what happened the rest of that day. All I can recall is that he started bawling and told the teacher on me. My response was that my dad was going to have both of their heads. 

Now, stupid quarrels aside, I always wondered what happened to that guy. I couldn’t help but imagine him having a nice ending. Maybe get himself a girlfriend, work on his grades, meet someone that would make him happy. 

During those times, I didn’t have a care for the world. Well, of course I still don’t really give a shit, but it was different back then. I feel conflicted. I want to be a better person, but at the same time, the years of adolescence were the best years for me. I might have been a pathetic shit, sure, but people were there for me. My childhood had a pure-hearted feeling to it. I wasn’t as dulled by family business and the thought of death as I am today. I felt like an actual kid, I could do the shit that the other people did. It’s not that I can’t do such things now, but I still feel..distant. It’s like I can’t adapt to the normality of society anymore. Do I like that feeling? Well…. I don’t know. I really don’t know.

To this day.. there’s only one person that made me feel normal. One single person who I felt like I could do regular things with. There was no work involved, no kinds of ties by anything else but the fact that we were in the same class. And it’s a fucking miracle I even managed to meet them, and had the luck of meeting them before. The last thing that I want to do is fuck it up. I’ve never been this scared of fucking it up before. But… I really don’t know what I should do. It’s so fucking stupid. And I don’t know how to stop it. I’m sure, that if I would do the opposite of what people would expect of me, everything will turn to shit. So, to hold onto my dignity, my pride, and my brotherhood, I’ll do everything in my power to suppress it. For their sake too. 

It still hurts. Fucking hell, it hurts. But what does it matter? I’m used to that, am I not?


	2. Wetsuit

I’m making this sound worse than it actually is, aren’t I? I wasn’t too different from the other kids, if you put my horrible attitude aside. I went to kindergarten, middle school, and now high school. I did have at least one friend that I talked to regularly. Wait, scratch that, I’m not sure if she counts. Considering my circumstances, I’m lucky to have been able to socialize as much as I have. Or, well, still do to this day honestly. But I suppose I should leave the useless rambling to some other day. Shit has happened the past months, that’s for sure. 

High school was something that affected me more than it should have. The week before my first day consisted of me sitting in my chair (or laying in my bed), not being able to do any family work at all. I was never a person to fuss over small shit that was barely worth fixing. But for some reason, I cared about how my high school life would play out. I was tired of not talking to anyone, and I was tired of being as inapproachable as I was. I didn’t know if I had lost hope in becoming who I wanted to be. I didn’t know if it was fixable at this point. I guess I had good reasons for being stressed out when school was right around the corner. 

So, I had done everything in my power! I had asked my friend for advice, but of course, she didn’t know. It wasn’t like she was used to this kind of shit. 

Peko Pekoyama, a childhood…. friend. Our relationship was very “back and forth”. At younger age, we were inseparable, and she was always with me. She was the only one I had that I felt was worth my time. She protected me, not only because it was the job she had been assigned to since birth, but because she cared about me. Peko would support me, no matter what situation we were put in during our adolescence. I admired her. She was strong, and she was strong for me. To keep me safe. To make sure I wasn’t feeling any discomfort, even when we were both scared to death. 

Of course, Peko wouldn’t let me go to high school alone. She would be joining me, both to protect me and to make me feel safe. 

When the first day of school came, I was scared to death. What if my work was in vain? What if no one would like me? I did my best to keep my pride at bay though. I was woken up by the usual alarm, ringing at 7:50 am. I was never a person to be sleeping in, especially not at important days like these.  
The walk to the academy we had been accepted to was quite a journey. We lived in the outskirts of Tokyo, and it made the walk a bit more sufferable. There were things to look at, cafes where you could get a snack if it was desired. Parks with trees towering over your frame, acting as a shelter from either glaring sun, cold rain or tough winds. There were ponds, beaches, bookstores, anything that you would feel like doing. Me and Peko didn’t stop by at any of those place today. We were walking in the streets, and none of us were talking. Her gaze was pointed forward, something that was nothing but expected from her. She wasn’t a person to be bothering with anything else but her goal. I couldn’t help but smile at her. Not once in my life had she been anything different from what she is now. 

“Young master?” she said. Her red eyes met mine.“Is something the matter?”

I simply shrugged at her. I didn’t really know, to be honest. “Eh.. I guess it’s nothing special. School is just gonna be a fucking hassle.” 

Peko switched her gaze forward again. “Fair enough.”

Neither of us were much of a talker. Most of our time was spent in silence, even if we were almost always together. We were people who wanted to get our job done without things getting in the way. Case closed. 

But I didn’t feel like doing that today. My fists were clenched together, I was nervous. Not because of school this time. I wanted to ask her something. She was the only one who knew me well enough to be able to answer in a way that I felt would be helpful to me.

“Hey, Peko,” I had started. My eyes were fixed on the pavement, only looking up to avoid bumping into an occasional passersby. “Do you think they will like me?” 

Peko smiled at me. “Young master, I’m sure that they will.” 

I couldn’t help but pout at her. Maybe to lighten the serious mood I had brought upon myself.

“You’re talking as if you’re my fucking mom or something,” I said with a huff- which was only responded to with a chuckle from the girl to my right. “What?” I exclaimed. “What’s so funny?!”

Peko settled down a bit and looked at me again. “It’s nothing.” 

I knew I wouldn’t get anything else out of her, so there was no use in trying. With a red tint to my cheeks (which presence I refused to acknowledge), I simply hurried my pace towards the building I had talked about before. It was one of those summer days where the heat was nothing but a pain. A day where the wind wasn’t present, and the humidity was off the charts. Being lightly dressed wouldn’t help, you would be sweating your ass off nevertheless. A day like this would be perfect for the beach, where you could either make use of the glaring sun by basking in it, or lay in the water all day. Sadly, this wouldn’t happen today. We would be spending it inside a just as hot school where we were not allowed to strip ourselves of a single sheet of clothing. Hopefully the air conditioning would work, or I would be out of there. Jesus, I hadn’t even gotten to the school yet and I was already hating it. The only thing that kept me motivated was the promise I had made for myself: make some fucking friends. Grades weren’t an issue for me, and the case was identical for Peko. We were quick learners. But the social aspect of education was a trouble for both of us. Was Peko worried about it too? If she was, would she ever say it to me? I had no idea, to be honest. The girl was unreadable. 

I moved my wrist up towards my forehead, rubbing it to get away potential droplets of sweat that had formed. Luckily, I don’t get warm all too easily. 

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Not a gentle grip, as to reassure me. This one fucking hurt. I glared towards Peko, gritting my teeth in pain. “What the fuck are you doi--” I said, interrupted by the girl’s harsh tone cutting my sentence off. “Watch out.” 

Right as she said that, the grip tightened even further, dragging me towards her. And there, to my left (in the no-bike zone, mind you), was a jackass riding their bicycle at full speed right past me. The person, who seemed to be on their phone, brushed their shoulder towards mine and didn’t even seem to notice my presence at all. This was something that made the situation all more infuriating for me. Who the fuck would do that? I flicked Peko’s hand off my shoulder, and she had probably already understood that it was useless trying to stop me from throwing a mad tantrum. 

“Hey, fuckhead, how fucking hard is it to ride in the fucking bike zone? And why the fuck aren’t you even watching the road?! You could have fucking ran me over, you piece of shit, you understand that?!”

The person stopped their bike, and looked towards me. It was a boy. His hair was colored with such a bright color that it physically hurt my eyes...was he wearing a jumpsuit? With a pretty shaken expression, the boy bowed his head.

“Ah.. sorry I guess I wasn’t payin’ too much attention.” With a sheepish grin, he once again bowed to me. “I gotta be on my way now though.. See ya later!”

Oh no. No way. I was not finished with this dude. No way in hell. I was just about to walk right up to him when I, once again, felt someone grab a hold of my shoulder. 

“Peko, I swear to God,” I hissed with the most venomous stare I’d given someone in a while. But Peko’s expression was resolute. She was the last one to be shaken by my attitude, after all. 

“Young master, with all due respect, but I don’t think getting expelled is a good first day of school.” 

I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath. Opened them again. Peko was right. I wouldn’t want my dreams crushed on my first day, it would be nothing but embarrassing to me. Maybe a bit heartbreaking. Without another word, I watched the boy run away with the bicycle in a firm grip. Was he crying? What the hell? Well, it couldn’t be helped. Why would he cry when he was the one who fucked up anyways? 

“School’s gonna suck. Can’t I go home?” I leaned my head against Peko’s shoulder, too tired to support my own body weight. She rolled her eyes and tried her best to not chuckle at me. 

“If we make it through this day, we could walk by the beach on our way home.” 

“Are you trying to bribe me?”

“...No.”

“Yes you are.” 

“We could get lemonade too.”

I gave Peko one of my best pouts. “...Okay.”  
She responded with a smile before picking up the pace. The academy was visible before our eyes, and I honestly just couldn’t wait to get home. I wasn’t really excited for this anymore. What if that jackass was in my school? He seemed to be my age too, if not older. Why was I thinking about that so much anyways? 

The school was huge. It towered upon the both of us, with brown and grey concrete walls. Above the two glass doors were letters spelling out “High School”, as well as an emblem to represent the building. Behind us were trees leading to the academy, with the tree crowns neatly cut into spheres. For some reason, there were no students to be seen. Maybe we were just early? 

“Hey Peko..school was going to start at 9:00, right? What time is it now?”  
She looked at her wristwatch, and then shrugged. “It’s 8:30.”

“I guess we’re just early then,” I said and made my way inside the building. 

We were greeted by empty halls and corridors. The whole place was deserted. 

“Huh? Did we pick the wrong day? Why is it so fucking empty?” Peko looked around with a concerned expression. She seemed to be just as confused as I was. 

“Hello?” she called, but to no avail. There didn’t seem to be anyone here. 

“This is fucked up. Where is everyone?” Peko nodded in agreement, she wasn’t sure herself. “Should we just search the halls?” I asked her, to which she shrugged. “I suppose. There’s nothing else we can do.” 

With that, we started making our way through the deserted halls. But after a couple of minutes of searching, we were stranded of ideas. All that had been surrounding us was grey walls and silence. And to top it all off, we now had no idea where we were. We had checked the whole ground floor, but we had decided to not go upstairs, mostly out of fear of making the situation worse. Peko was closer and closer to losing her cool. She was fast-walking all over the place, knocking on every door she could see. She didn’t get an answer from any of them. 

“Hey, Peko,” I started while crossing my arms. “Should we just go home? It’s not like anyone’s gonna come.” 

And right as I said that, we heard steps coming from behind us. They were rushed, almost as if they were la--

“Ah… it’s… you guys.”

Out of all people… why him?


	3. From Home

“Uh,” the pink haired boy started. I didn’t let him finish the sentence, I did not possess that kind of mental energy at the moment. 

“What the fuck are you doing here,” I spat instead, but I knew the answer. I really didn’t want to accept it though. 

He opened his mouth and I dreaded what words would come out of it.

“This is my school. I’m trying to find my classroom.”

Peko let out a soft “ahh”, and I shot her a murderous glare. Pink haired boy was watching the exchange of vivid expressions we were sending. He looked….so lost. 

“Uh, is there somethin’ weird with that? Am I in the wrong place?” 

“No, you’re not in the wrong place. Do you know where the fuck everyone is? Are we just really fuckin’ early or something?” 

The boy widened his eyes, pupils shifting their focus up towards some spot right above my head. It looked like he had just remembered something crucial, and it scared the hell out of me. 

“Ah, right! No, we’re all just really, really late, and I’ve completely lost my way you see--”

The poor boy didn’t get to finish his sentence before Peko let out the most frustrated and surprised noise I’ve ever been able to witness. At least when it came to her. She pulled both me and the other boy by the arm and started dashing towards the room we had been appointed to. 

“W-wait,” I exclaimed. Of course, Peko didn’t stop. “Why the fuck are we late? Wasn’t school supposed to start at 9AM? It’s 8:40 or something for fuck’s sake!” 

The boy looked at me again, which agitated me for some reason. Everything about him just made my blood boil.

“Didn’t you read the schedule? We’re starting earlier today to have an opening ceremony.” 

Peko looked back towards me in a panicky fashion, and I knew what she was about to say. 

“A-ah… I’m sorry, young m-,” she interrupted herself.

“I’m sorry, Kuzuryuu. I must have missed that while reading the memo.” 

I shook my head. Of course something like this was going to happen. Of fucking course! And of course they had to be stuck with this idiot of a human while getting put in this horrible situation! It was so unrealistic that I couldn’t even find myself getting mad about it anymore. I didn’t want to think about what was going to happen when it came the ceremony either. I just wanted to sink to the ground and disappear. Sadly, Peko was still dragging me and Pink boy to a destination that she supposedly had an idea of where it was.

“Wait,” I said. “Why are you late, then?”

The boy then changed his usual stupid-looking expression to an embarrassed one. He averted his eyes and rested his gaze on a nearby wall instead of me. 

“I overslept.”

“Idiot,” I huffed. “Who the fuck sleeps in on the first day of school?”

“H-hey! It would be alright if I didn’t have motion sickness…” 

“Didn’t you go to school by bike? Who the fuck gets motion sickness from riding a bike?”

“I do!”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I’m not!”

“Yes you a--”

We were interrupted by Peko stopping her search for the classroom we had been assigned to. She had frozen right on the spot without any warning, leaving me and the boy beside me extremely close to crashing into her. 

“Ah, we’re here, I believe.”   
Peko looked...stoic. Which wasn’t exactly a surprise when it came to her, but I had presumed that anyone would get at least a little shaken from their first day of school. Then again, Peko had always been hard to read.

The doors in front of us seemed to be the ones of an aula of some sort. The sign above it read “P.E,” which raised a concern in me. If we were supposed to have an opening ceremony, didn’t that mean that practically the whole school was going to be in here----?

It was too late for me to interrupt Peko swinging the doors open. The realization of the three of us could only be compared to opening the gates of hell. Inside were countless of faces, all of them which I had never seen before. I was hiding half of my frame behind Pink Boy, who was anxiously shifting his weight from one leg to another. His face was more panic-stricken than anything I had ever seen before, and I genuinely felt bad for him. Or, well, maybe I was just so tired of all the things that were happening around us that I couldn’t be mad at him anymore. At this point I couldn’t tell.

Right in the back of the aula was a tall man, standing behind a small podium that seemed to have been put there only for this day. Was he the principal? I didn’t have time to think about it.

“Peko, why the fuck did you open the-”

Peko kept her stoic expression and bowed down her upper body towards the principal. By the way she was acting right now, she somehow seemed more scared than the boy I was hiding behind. Who else than Peko would do something like that? You couldn’t exactly see the supposed principal’s reaction since he was very far away, but I could already tell that he was as confused as the people in the aula-like room. I could hear people talking around us, but I wasn’t able to make out exactly what they were saying. Would it really have mattered anyways?

I was just about to open my mouth to sputter some half-assed apology, fidget with my hands and then have it be over with. Maybe change my school as well, but then again, that was something that would have to be saved for the future. Peko, however, had other plans. When raising her head, and stretching her body out again, she grabbed me and the boy (who had been frozen in place, probably pissing his pants at this point), and marched into the crowd, whose gaze was practically impaling my body. She took a sharp turn to the left, and then stopped. I looked up at her and mouthed a long and heavily nuanced braid of swear words that I was absolutely certain she could make out, as she looked away with a red tint on her cheeks. 

And then we just stood there. I was absolutely certain that none of us were listening to anything either. Rather, we were waiting for the moment where everyone would just leave and hopefully let this painful situation come to an end. We were about 40 minutes late to this goddamn ceremony, mind you. It was only natural to be assuming that it would end sometime soon.  
But time went on, and I was unsure if time was just moving incredibly fucking slow, or if we were actually standing here for hours. 

And then I felt something tugging at my suit sleeve. My eyes immediately darted towards my wrist and was caught by surprise by the hand that was there. Pink haired boy’s hand, specifically. He had several blisters on his fingers, as if he had been working with them a lot. Was he into crafting or something?   
My eyes then wandered upwards. The blue jumpsuit he was in (which I found highly inappropriate on the first day of school) was damaged. The sleeves that were sloppily rolled up to his elbows were scuffed, with some parts of the seams being ripped. The only way that you could tell that his attire was washed recently was by the strong scent of detergent that, when I thought about it, actually kind of stung in my nose. It didn’t seem to have helped though, as some dark stains, especially on the leg area, were still apparent if you looked a second time. I then raised my gaze once more, to his eyes. He was, well, looking at me. His whole appearance was honestly straining to my eyes, but the color of his eyes was still somehow...soft, in a way. At the time I didn’t think much of it. The mishmash of contrasts was all artificially created anyways, and my eyes would most likely start hurting if it wasn’t for the beanie that was covering his horrible hairdye.

The boy then leaned in towards me, only stopping right in front of my face, and for some reason, it had me more shaken than I’d thought. I catched my whole body jolting, seeing how the eyes that I had (for some reason) been inspecting only seconds ago creeping closer and closer, noticing that his lips were horribly chapped and prickled with small blisters and scars, and it pissed me off that he didn’t seem to think much of it. I looked back towards Peko, who was observing the situation with more enthusiasm than I had deemed comfortable. However, her attention immediately drifted elsewhere when the boy whispered to me. 

“The name’s Souda. What about you?”

I was close to socking him for getting so close. The only reason I was containing myself was because there were… so many people around. Honestly, if we were alone, he might have been dead by now. But sadly, that was not the case at all. Instead, I shot a look down to my shoes, polished and probably more expensive than all the money Souda must have spent on that horrible hair dye. Not because he would pay to actually make it look good to begin with. I then looked up at him again, eyebrows furrowed just enough for him to think he’d done something wrong. “Kuzuryuu,” I said. 

Souda gave me a… very awkward smile, before quickly breaking eye contact and locking his eyes forward as to end the conversation that he had tried to start. I responded to his discomfort with a huff. I then looked forward as well.  
The principal in front of us was as much of a copy-paste principal as you would expect. A tall man, closer to being classed as old rather than young, and black hair. The only defining trait you could see was the purple tint that said hair had in the light. I looked up to the ceiling, as it managed to be more interesting than the speech that people were apparently listening to. I hadn’t even met my other classmates, but it was was dawning on me this wasn’t the end of this already horrible day, and I was very likely to encounter even worse… “incidents”.

…….And my predictions were very much true. 

On the year of my 17th birthday, when I got my first very own assault rifle, I also stumbled across some of the most strange people I would ever encounter. 

The academy I was going to, Hope’s Peak Academy, had high expectations. You would need amazing grades to get in there, and if you happened to not give a shit about things like that, you needed talent. For some people, this meant to be best in your class… no; scratch that. You had to be best in your class, and best in your city. It wouldn’t hurt to be best in your country. For others, winning a national competition was a way to get in. Exceptional physical abilities, or unimaginable talent was the essence for success; so that’s what they wanted. 

I didn’t choose to go here. My father was actually the one who got me in here; most likely by threatening the principal (which wouldn’t come as a surprise at all anymore after seeing how he acted during the gathering in the P.E classroom.) 

When I came to the classroom after the principal had finished his speech (which I had failed miserably at listening to,) I was surrounded by either suspicious or menacingly curious faces. The boy beside me, Souda, seemed even more confused by this than I was. This day must have been more traumatizing to him than it was to me after all; everything had been going wrong for him since the minute he woke up. Somewhere in my heart, I felt bad for the boy. The other parts of me were still angry that he almost pummeled me with his bike. 

Well; after I had made such a godawful impression on him, something told me that he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with me from now on. Bad things seemed to come to us when we were together; we were certainly the worst for each other. And something about that thought comforted me more than it should have.   
“This first day didn’t mean much. We won’t be together anyways.”

And that’s why when the whole class was looking at me, Souda stepped away from my side and made his way to a bench across the room. It was like he was reading my mind, coming to the same realization that had hit me during the time we were together. Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as I thought. 

The crowd around me was dispersed when the teacher entered the classroom, excusing themselves as they walked past me. The whole class, as if they knew where to go, sat down in   
front of a desk of their choice. The spots that were free was one in the very front, as well as one in the back right next to…. a certain person; who I had very well had enough of today. Peko, who had been standing beside me since we came here, was well aware of this fact. She shot me a look, and sat down beside Souda (who looked painfully frightened by this fact.) 

I didn’t feel as happy about that as I had expected. Even if was exactly what I’d expected. And as long as he didn’t start flirting with Peko or some bizarre shit like that, it was definitely for the better. I looked at my desk, which was placed next to a boy that looked painfully average. It was located on the far right end of the classroom, right in front of the teacher’s desk. 

The boy smiled at me as I sat down. And though he looked so dull, something told me we would go together much better than me and Souda had. Maybe that was the case with everyone in this room. Though I didn’t return the favour for the brown-haired boy, I stretched out my hand. A handshake wasn’t too formal...was it? 

He chuckled at me, and I wondered if I was acting strange, but he took my hand firmly and told me his name. 

“Hinata.”   
I nodded. “Kuzuryuu,” I then said, to which I was given a less surprised expression than expected. I was even more surprised by how relieved I found myself being over his reaction. I wasn’t exactly planning on making friends here, was I? What happened to me having given up my hope in advancing in any kind of social interaction at all? What happened to going straight back to my small rented apartment with Peko after school had ended? What happened to never even thinking about bringing someone home with me? I frowned at myself, ashamed over admitting to myself that no, I actually wouldn’t mind if someone tried to talk to me today. I wasn’t used to that at all. 

I then looked up Hinata, who was sitting to my right. He was looking at the whiteboard that was covering the far end of the classroom, a very convenient position for the two of us. Something about him made me feel reassured. Well. Until I rethought my decisions today, that is. They just introduced themselves! It’s not like they’re about to become the best of friends after fucking saying hi!

I looked away again. Specifically, I looked down at my desk. It was on the paler side, made of some cheap type of wood. It was covered in small scratches, but surprisingly, no scribbles of vulgar words that I was too high-class to utter (not really.) I wasn’t used to this kind of school environment, I was always the kid to be shifting from being homeschooled to having your parents tell you to “give school a try,” only to have me come home to a pair of disappointed faces of people who already had a bit too much on their plate to begin with. I scratched the table with a blunt fingernail (only being so short because it was constantly chewed on,) and shot another look towards Hinata. This time, his green eyes (which were the only thing that happened to stand out in his appearance) met my gaze, and he gave me a smile that was identical to the one he’d given me before. We looked at eachother for a while until I was the one who looked away again. Well, what were you supposed to say here?

The teacher’s words were just going straight through my brain. I couldn’t listen. Wasn’t it a great accomplishment to come here to begin with? Why were we being bombarded with information right when we got here anyways? I had always imagined the first day to be spent on childish shit like introduction games or name memorizing rituals that actually had more potential to trigger social anxiety than a five minute presentation, not some anti climactic speech from a teacher who looked like they had been awake all night. On second thought, I didn’t want to play any name games anyways. At least school ended after this, as normal classes wouldn’t start until on Wednesday (not because I knew how long this teacher would talk for, let alone what time it was.)

\----

When class had ended, I had left the classroom as quickly as I possibly could, but it was more of an action powered by reflex rather than an actual reason for me to not stay in school for a bit. Peko had noticed this and was soon walking beside me. Hinata had stayed behind in the classroom, but he’d told me to have a nice day and that he hoped to see me again tomorrow, to which I had responded with a nod. Souda seemed to be the slowest person to witness, and when I was on my way out of the classroom he was still sitting at his chair doing God knows what. 

So me and Peko had left without talking to him, and it didn’t bother me. We walked home the same way that we’d gotten to the academy, and this time it felt more peaceful. We had finished school, it felt like a huge accomplishment to me, even if it sounded embarrassing to say it. When we got home, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I ended up going to bed early and it dawned on me that I was looking forward to school tomorrow. Maybe it was just me being restless, but something was driving me to come back. A part of me liked the normal life that people were living there. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to see my enthusiasm as positive or not, but it was a change in my lifestyle, that’s for sure. I stopped thinking about it when I turned off the small lamp to my left and focused on falling asleep instead. I had things to do tomorrow after all.


End file.
